COVID-19 has had and continues to have a significant impact on the economy. Growth rate, unemployment, work hours, job conditions, business profitability and business sustainability, are all variables, among many others, that have been affected. This has had a significant impact on working populations that is especially severe for workers in the informal sector who do not have access to social protection and safety nets.
October 12, 2020
Time:
4:00 pm
Facebook Live
Most women in labour markets work in informal sectors and so the differential impact on women is expected to be much larger. This impact is not just in terms of economic factors, but there is a significant socio-psychological cost that is also being imposed on females and families.
Join us for the forty-ninth session of LUMS Live: The New 'Normal': Impact of COVID-19 on Women Working in the Informal Sector. The distinguished panelists for the discussion include Ms. Sofia Shakil, Dr. Faisal Bari and Dr. Hadia Majid.
Date: Monday, October 12
Time: 4:00 pm
Moderated by Adeel Hashmi, the session will be broadcast live via the LUMS Facebook page. Please click here to listen to our panelists discuss the impact of the pandemic on women in the informal sector, how they have been coping, what policy initiatives have arisen, and what lessons we can learn.
During the session, please use the live stream's comments bar to ask questions or email them at ask@lums.edu.pk.
After the session, kindly share your feedback and suggest future topics for discussion/guests here.
Join us for this important conversation!
Profiles of Panelists
Ms. Sofia Shakil – Country Representative, Pakistan and Regional Director, Economic Development, The Asia Foundation
Ms. Shakil serves as The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Pakistan, with additional regional programme responsibilities. An experienced policy economist, she brings nearly 25 years of experience in the development sector, with a focus on human development, public sector policy, and governance reform. She has held several positions with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and international NGOs; and brings to this role her extensive knowledge of and passion for Asia’s economic and social development. Ms. Shakil holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Politics from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan.
Dr. Faisal Bari – Interim Dean, School of Education, LUMS
Dr. Bari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Interim Dean of the School of Education at LUMS. His current teaching interests are in the areas of philosophy of education inclusion, economics of education, game theory, microeconomics and industrial organisation. His research interests are also in the same areas. He writes a fortnightly column for the daily, Dawn.
Dr. Hadia Majid – Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Director, Saida Waheed Gender Initiative, LUMS
A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Hadia Majid holds a PhD in Development Economics from The Ohio State University. Her research agenda considers the impact of monetary and public resource constraints on individual welfare in Pakistan. Her work includes cash transfer evaluations, public goods provisioning, human capital acquisition in the context of intra-household decision-making, and factors affecting women’s access to earned income. Her expertise lies in RCT, quasi-experimental, and quantitative driven fieldwork. She has also done qualitative work with low-literate, low-income women workers. Currently, she is focused on labour markets in Pakistan where she documents and explores the barriers to women’s labour supply and their access to decent, empowering work.
